Acer platanoides, 
THE PLATANUS-LIKE MAPLE. 
Synonymes. 
Acer platanoides, 
'Linnaeus, Species Plantarum. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Michaux, North American Sylva. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
Selby, British Forest Trees. 
Erable de Norvege, France. 
Spitz- Ahorn, Spitzblattriger Ahorn, Germany. 
Acero riccio, Sicomoro falso, Platano di ) t taly 
Norvegia, j 
Norway Maple, Britain and Anglo-America. 
Derivations. The specific name is derived from the Latin platanus, a plane-tree, and the Greek eidos, form, from the 
resemblance which the leaves of this tree bear to those of the Platanus orientalis. 
Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 44 ; Selby, British Forest Trees, pp. 23 et 26; Loudon, Arboretum Bri- 
tannicum, i., figures 119, pp. 442 et443; et v. pi. 29; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Leaves cordate, smooth, 5-lobed. Lobes acuminated, with a few coarse, acute teeth. 
Corymbs stalked, erectish, and, as well as the fruit, smooth ; fruit with divaricated wings. Dm, Mil- 
ler's Diet. 
Descrijrtion. 
^jjjHE Acer platanoides 
*Mi h H irl is a handsome tree, of 
gj J |t the first rank. Its 
ifeS^ general appearance, at 
a distance, is like the Acer psendo-platanus, but 
on a nearer approach, the leaves are found of a 
smoother and finer texture. The trunk is some- 
what shorter than that of the sycamore, and the 
tree seldom exceeds sixty or seventy feet in 
height. The roots extend considerably, both 
laterally and downwards. The bark is green on 
the young shoots, but it afterwards becomes of a 
reddish-brown, dotted with white spots ; that of 
the trunk is brown, and somewhat cracked. 
The buds are large and red in autumn, becoming 
of a still darker hue in the course of the winter ; 
those on the points of the shoots are always the 
largest. The leaves are thin, green on both 
sides, and shining. In an early or half-expanded 
state, they are of a delicate yellowish-green, and in autumn, before they fall, 
become of a clear red, or of a rich, warm yellow. They fall, in England, about 
the end of October. When the petiole is broken, an acrid, milky sap issues from 
it, which coagulates on being exposed to the air. The leaves are about five 
inches long, and nearly of the same width. The petioles are longer than the 
leaves. The flowers appear just before the leaves, near the end of April, and 
form a short raceme, somewhat corymbose. They are yellowish-green, sweet- 
scented, and eagerly sought after by bees, to which they afford an early, and at 
the same time, a valuable pasture. The fruit or keys have their wings yellow. 
